Thursday, December 13, 2007

Welcome to the live blog on this 13th day of December. The Citadel Bulldogs have arrived here in Davidson, NC. It's been a balmy week in central N.C., but a cloud cover and a little rain has cooled things off tonight.

The Citadel will probably be playing without senior star Demetrius Nelson. A native of Johns Island, S.C., Nelson was averaging 14.6 ppg so far this season. A sore foot has been hampering him in recent weeks.

Davidson will be without starting forward Max Paulhus Gosselin for the second straight game. Paulhus Gosselin sat out the game against UCLA with a sore back and Will Archambault started in his place. Archambault knocked down two three-pointers in Davidson's losing effort.

The Citadel is 3-4 heading into tonight's game with wins over Charleston Southern and Webber International. Their losses came against both USCs (South Carolina and Southern California).---This one has a pretty tired feel right now. The Wildcats missed their cue to come out of the tunnel (end of the opening riff of "Welcome to the Jungle") and most of the upper deck is empty right now. Students have exams starting tomorrow so they might be a little lethargic tonight. Speaking for myself, I will try to limit the egregious spelling errors tonight, as I have been staring at a computer screen writing papers all week.---I have been having bad luck with this wireless the last two games. Stephen Curry opened the scoring with a three on Davidson’s second possession. He was called for an offensive foul by Teddy Valentine on Davidson’s first possession. The Citadel is wasting all the time off the shot clock which makes things easier for me.---16: 08 D 9 C 5Davidson is attacking the paint really well so far tonight. Curry with some shots and Sander with a big layup off of an inbound. And then another off of a J-rich assist. This wireless business is killing me. I will plan on typing it out on a Word document and posting at halftime. Soooo frustrating.---13:44 D 11 C 7Another turnover for The Citadel on offense. The Dogs have no rhythm at all. They are significantly smaller at most positions than Davidson. Curry and Barr have given up open looks to get the ball inside. Excellent decision-making…knowing that our frontcourt has a significant advantage.---12:21 D 18 C 9Curry with seven after a floater from the top of the key. This Wildcat team looks really good. And they’re having a lot of fun. They were cracking smiles and singing along to the music during warm-ups. And it’s also good to see Barr and Archambault playing in the paint. That time Barr got a three look and hit it. Precision. ---11:53 D 18 C 9Davidson is continuing the type of play that exhibited in the first fourteen minutes of the UCLA game. They are keeping the defense off-balance by making quick passes before the defense can react to the previous one. Gotta love the action going on in the paint and the unselfishness by everyone on the court.---10:00 D 25 C 14Boris Meno has gone over the back a few times tonight without being called for it. He is so tall, however, that he isn’t making contact but rather just elevating over the top of people. And Bryant Barr is lighting up from three. That’s three on the game. The Citadel remembers his career high 7 threes against them last year.---9:00 D 25 C 17Stephen Curry takes on elbow to the face and is now bleeding from his lip. Brendan McKillop comes into the game for the first time in SoCon play. Ray Beltz is out on the court wiping up the blood and Steph is at the end of the bench trying to get it to clot. It doesn’t look serious at all. ---6:48 D 27 C 21J-Rich found Andrew Lovedale on the inside and Richards has 4 assists. Curry is heading to the locker room to get his lip fixed up. Bryant Barr is in the game along with Jason and Brendan. Barr has been smiling all game. Thomas Sander draws a foul on Neven Zeravica, and then Sander gets called for one three seconds later. It’s getting hairy in the paint. And when things get contentious, Sander always seems to be right in the middle of it. And the Citadel won’t go away.---5:00 D 29 C 24McKillop calls a timeout as Davidson gives up another Citadel three. The Wildcat D was pretty out of position on that possession and their offense is hurting right now with Curry still on the bench. Richards missed a couple of shots on a possession that ended with a Rossiter tip-in. Davidson’s rebounding is outstanding, but I’m still a little worried about Richards’ jump-shooting.---4:00 D 31 C 29And The Citadel ties it up with yet another three. Meno gives Davidson the lead back but this game is much closer than it feels. The crowd is really silent here. Really silent. Thank goodness the Wildcats are getting second chances because they are shooting 13-28 from the field with tons of good looks that are rimming out.---2:31 D 34 C 34Jason shuts me up by hitting a big three from the top of the key but The Citadel comes back and scores again. They are 6-8 from 3 point land. So much for winning a pushover game before exam time. This will be a tough test for Davidson not to get flustered and think about that losing streak. If The Citadel keeps this close down the stretch, Davidson might get frustrated with memories of the close games that they couldn’t pull out.---Halftime D 39 C 39Davidson ties the game at halftime with their patented “last play before half backdoor screen.” Davidson converted on the same play in the 2006 SoCon tourney when Jason Morton cut The Citadel’s first-half lead to 10 after the Bulldogs led by 18 in the first half on ridiculous threes. This game is eerily similar. Who will play Matt McKillop in the second half? My money is on William Archambault.The Citadel is shooting 7-10 from three land. Davidson isn't bad on their 16-32 from the field with their eight offensive rebounds. The Wildcat perimeter defense will need to step up in the second half. They are missing MPG and especially Curry.I just found out that Davidson's wireless router is out. All of the media are running around on their cell phones in here. I will post the rest of my live blog immediately after the game and a post-game story with quotes after that. Let's hope that Davidson is 2-0 in the SoCon at that point.---19:00 D 42 C 41The wireless is working and Curry is back in the lineup so a few things are looking up. J-rich hits his third three of the game. Thanks for making me look bad Richards. I'll start talking about how bad Thomas is next. Coming back out from the media room, I overheard a Davidson assistant tell an employee to get this crowd loud, because it is dead.---18:00 D 45 C 41Yeah Sander. This thing is working. Thomas made a transition dunk that put Davidson up three. The defensive intensity is back a little with Curry back in. McKillop certainly ripped into them at the half.---15:40 D 55 C 49Jason Richards hits his fourth three of the game. Some Davidson fans have been calling for someone other than Curry to step up and lead the team in points for one game. We might get to see that tonight. Archer hits a three! Davidson has now hit 9 threes on the game. And then Curry gets a basket off of a Lovedale steal. The offense is rolling.---15:06 D 58 C 49Another fast break for Davidson and Curry hits a three. Everything is falling now. I'm a bad observer on this game as I just now noticed that Curry is wearing #25 since his 30 jersey was covered in blood. I would say that he could go up to the bookstore and buy one of his new replica jerseys but those are all red. Too bad.---12:45 D 66 C 51J-Rich hits his fifth three and he now has 16 points to go along with 7 assists. Davidson is still having trouble with free throws. That will be a point of emphasis before their next game with N.C. State. Andrew Lovedale has been quiet with one rebound and two points. But his defense has been pretty quick and intimidating as flies around the paint.---11:18 D 72 C 53Barr for consecutive threes and Belk Arena finally wakes up. Barr has six threes so far, one short of his career high. He has 20 points on the game. Barr is now 13-16 from three against the Citadel in his career at Davidson. Davidson has outscored the Citadel by 19 in the first nine minutes of the second half.---10:46 D 72 C 56I have had the pleasure of sitting next to John Kilgo during this game and have gotten to hear him call a game for the first time this season. I must say that is very enjoyable. I was briefly checking Davidsoncats.com at one point and noticed that Kilgo saw that I was looking at the Kilgoisms thread. I quickly minimized the page. What a great story about the Big Cat and his moving seats on the plane.---7:57 D 80 C 58And Barr is looking for three number 7. Don't think he doesn't know. He's still smiling. Davidson's defense and rebounding has been fantastic. Meno with some huge offensive rebounds and finishes. He now has 9 points on the game. Curry seems a little perplexed that two people have scored more points than him so far.---4:40 D 87 C 64Barr comes out to a standing ovation. I've gotten a few good viewing angles on some of Jason's excellent passes. His court vision is incredible. He finds Lovedale inside who gets fouled on a layup. Kilgo thinks Jason should get an assist for that.---2:55 D 92 C 67The two "boxer" students who stand in the front row behind the basket now have two new additions. Starting this season, they have a ninja and a Cat in the Hat. At this point, they are the only students still standing up. Richards with another three, his sixth of the game. Curry is happy that the Citadel is still hitting shots. It means that he can stay in the game and get some more points. As I write that, he gets a steal, goes behind the back and finishes at the other end. Curry has 18 and is going to the line. You know that he wants to score 20 for the seventh time this season (I think? That's off the top of my head).---1:50 D 96 C 70Curry hits them both and we are a little happier in stats land. Now people will start looking at that spread (did I say that out loud?). Brendan McKillop draws his father's wrath as he fouls the Bulldogs on an out-of-bounds play with 1 second on the shot clock. And Davidson is getting into the shot-blocking game.---Final D 96 C 74Bond, Civi and Nelms get some playing time here at the very end. Davidson might not get the four points needed for 100 with this lineup on the floor. Nelms with a travel. Bond with a really bad shot after Nelms got outrebounded by a smaller man. These guys still need some work. But the story of this one was the second half explosion. 57 points in the second half with huge points from Barr, Richards, Meno and Curry. The defense shut down The Citadel's long-distance attack and Davidson gets a well-earned SoCon victory at home.

EDIT: Davidson officials changed the final score after the game from 96-74 to 95-74. I'm not going to go back and change the score updates within the live blog to reflect that.